My experience is white trash sounds pretty much the same regardless of where you are in the country (some parts of New England excepted). That was one of things I noticed as a kid, you could always tell the rednecks/white trash by a pseudo "southern" accent, even in Washington. I'm guessing it has to do with the popularity of country music in rural areas.

/ Chicagoan// Don't know anybody who talks like that/// Gotta turn on AM radio call-in shows to hear that

I made my first trip through the Midwest this year, and I instantly knew the accent described in the article. More than likely it's the accent you speak with if you're a native Chicagoan who doesn't speak like a Super Fan.

Being Scottish, but living in the US, not a day goes by when someone finds it cute that I can actually use all the vowels properly. Here's a tip: Ask a Nebraskan to say "Merry, Mary, Marry." They'll all sound the same.

r1niceboy:Being Scottish, but living in the US, not a day goes by when someone finds it cute that I can actually use all the vowels properly. Here's a tip: Ask a Nebraskan to say "Merry, Mary, Marry." They'll all sound the same.

SomethingToDo:r1niceboy: Being Scottish, but living in the US, not a day goes by when someone finds it cute that I can actually use all the vowels properly. Here's a tip: Ask a Nebraskan to say "Merry, Mary, Marry." They'll all sound the same.

That was cute, too.

I look like a melted Mr. Potato Head, otherwise I'd be waist deep in young women wanting to take me home and feed me pie.

But one of the puzzles about this vowel shift is why it has spread through an area of 88 thousand square miles only to stop cold south of Cleveland and west of Milwaukee. And this is where things get political.

All I know is I'm goddamn tired of living in the midwest, speaking perfectly enunciated Midlands-English, and having the yokels stare at me like I'm spouting arabic because I'm not mangling the words into their yankish brogue. English motherfarkers, do you speak it?

I'd say there's more of a "bayg" sound, with the long A being elongated as well. I don't know how to describe it now that I think about it harder. There's definitely a long A, but it's like it's mixed with an E. A mix between "bayg" and "beg." Farked up is what it is.

r1niceboy:Being Scottish, but living in the US, not a day goes by when someone finds it cute that I can actually use all the vowels properly. Here's a tip: Ask a Nebraskan to say "Merry, Mary, Marry." They'll all sound the same.

Yeah, most people in the U.S. don't have that three-way distinction. Chicagoans do, not sure who else.

/Californian, no difference for me//also no difference for brought/brat (as in bratwurst), caught/cot, etc.

r1niceboy:Being Scottish, but living in the US, not a day goes by when someone finds it cute that I can actually use all the vowels properly. Here's a tip: Ask a Nebraskan to say "Merry, Mary, Marry." They'll all sound the same.

Ha! Born & raised in eastern Nebr., and you're absolutely right.When I went to college in northern Iowa (populated mainly by Iowans, Minnesotans, Wisconsinites, and Illinois-ians [?]) I got a bunch of grief for pronouncing "ash" words (cash, stash, etc.) as "caish" or something like that, rather than like the "a" sound in "cat".